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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. When was this ________________ built?
  23. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. clip — for paper
  3. last — final
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — to cut
  6. pop — soda
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. pit — a hole
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. march — the month
  12. pit — in a race
  13. pop — music
  14. march — the month
  15. march — music
  16. pop — to visit
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. last — to go on
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. last — finally

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com